Progressing through the Information Age, Big Data has come to the attention of many in the humanities, at times even eclipsing the importance of other forms of data (Cheryl Ball, Tarez Samra Graban, and Michelle Sidler have written about Big Data v. Boutique data in this carnival<\/a>). Although the definition for this era is fraught with challenges, one of its hallmarks is the increase in data quantity and the ability to work with that data. Simply put, the omnipresence of computers in every aspect of human life means we’re recording and capturing ever-increasing amounts of data. The problem is that data in isolation don\u2019t speak for themselves, at least not well. Instead, we have to find ways to effectively communicate that data, to make accessible to our audience the story we find in the data.<\/p>\n

One medium\u2013one that I’m still researching and learning about\u2013that\u2019s arisen recently for communicating all this data is the infographic, a means of presenting information visually. The infographic (a portmanteau of \u201cinformation\u201d and \u201cgraphic\u201d) combines visuals with alphabetic and numeric expressions, often with multiple visualizations–charts, graphs, diagrams, and other visuals, all combined with alphabetic and numeric text. While infographics are a popular medium sometimes focused on communicating popular topics\u2014both with and without numbers, infographics can also deliver graphical presentations of researched statistical data. Here’s just one example of what an infographic can look like in its presentation of data.<\/p>\n